1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mine rollers, and in particular to a system for remotely disconnecting a mine roller from a tactical vehicle.
2. Prior Art
Pushed mine rollers have historically been attached to the front of tactical vehicles, which are driven along a road surface or other areas suspected of containing mines or IEDs in order to prematurely detonate the mines before they can cause serious damage to the tactical vehicles and injure personnel. For example, the mine rollers have been mounted on M1 or M60 tanks modified with permanently attached mine roller mounting kits. Wheeled tactical vehicles, such as heavily modified Humvees, are more commonly used now, in part because they are lighter and more energy efficient.
Current mine rollers are typically released from the tactical vehicles by manually pulling two steel pins having cotter pins on either end to keep the pins retained in the pad-eyes of the mine roller system. The tongue load of the mine roller system (MRS) is applied to the pins, and a forklift or crane is often required to take off the tongue load as that the pins can be pulled manually, thereby disconnecting the MRS. Often, it is necessary to disconnect the MRS after a system failure or when the MRS is damaged by a mine or IED blast. This is especially troublesome during combat operations when personnel can be exposed to extreme danger while attempting to disconnect the MRS so they can evacuate the area in the vehicle. Thus, a need has been identified for a system that would allow operators to jettison the MRS from the vehicle remotely, e.g., from inside the vehicle, without exposing the operators to potentially dangerous enemy fire.